The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Big 12" ...
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"NCAA - College Athletic Fees"
In this months-long report, USA Today analyzed hundreds of "financial reports" that college athletic programs are "required to release to the NCAA." They found that many schools are relying more on student fees to finance sports programs (without student's knowledge). The investigation also reveals a growing "unrest" at many universities in response to the financial "divide between sports and academics."
Tags: Football Bowl Subdivision; Coalition of Intercollegiate Athletics; Big East Conference; University of Cincinnati; Nebraska State; Louisiana State; Atlantic Coast; Big Ten; Big 12; Pacific-10; Southeastern
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The Big Dig
Washington Post Magazine reports on the 25-year-long "campaign of "innuendo and distortion" surrounding an archeological finding that has changed "the theory about who the first Americans were." The story focuses on how James Adovasio, an archeologist at Mercyhurst College in Pennsylvania, uncovered a 12,000-year-old spear point at a site 30 miles southwest of Pittsburgh in 1973. The report describes how "date after date showed that the sate was inhibited before archaeological orthodoxy said it could have been." The story reports on the corroboration of Adovasio's theory after other similar artifacts - more than 12,000-year-old - have been found in Chile, Virginia and South Carolina.
Tags: prehistoric; artifacts; Miller lanceolate; anthropology; Meadowcroft; Bering Strait; humans
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The Fall of Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush
The series "disclosed misconduct on the part of Chuck Quackenbush, California's second elected insurance commissioner." The reporter found out that he "made secret deals with major insurance companies that allowed them to escape fines for mishandling hundreds, perhaps thousands, of claims relating to the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake." The stories reported that "Quackenbush had ignored recommendations form his legal staff that some of the big insurers in the state be fined hundreds of millions of dollars for mishandling Northridge claims. Instead, Quackenbush and his senior staff bullied insurers into "donating" more than $ 12 million to nonprofit foundations he created." The reporter found confidential documents to prove that the state regulator "used public funds and the power of his office to create a political slush fund, directed by highly paid consultants, to further his quest for higher public office." Quackenbush used some of the money to "repay his wife for personal loans she made to her failed state Senate campaign." After the misconduct had been revealed, the commissioner faced state's and federal probe of corruption and finally resigned. The reporter found out that in his "final days as insurance commissioner, Chuck Quackenbush approved contracts obligating California taxpayers to pay more than $ 1 million in legal fees to lawyers representing his commissioner and his top staff in investigations of wrongdoing."
Tags: politics; campaign; contributions; donations; political finance reports; Department of Insurance; foundations; nonprofit; television advertising; corruption; earthquake; California; impeachment; taxpayers; FBI
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IRE Feed 6: IRE TV Award Winners and Finalists
IRE Feed 6: The TV Award Winners and Finalists is a compilation of 14 reports from 14 stations in 11 markets ranging in size from Lexington, KY to Chicago, IL. 1)"Danger in Schools," KTRK-TV, Houston. A story that investigated Houston Schools putting known pedophiles back into the classroom. 2) "Where the Money Goes," WKYT-TV, Lexington, KY. Reveals that Lexington Schools spent tens of thousands of taxpayer's dollars on catered meals. 3) "Prescription for Trouble," KDFW-TV, Dallas. Investigates how Eckerds Pharmacy used teenagers to dispense prescriptions. 4) "Code of Silence," WTLV-TV, Jacksonville, FL. The medical system fights to protect a drunk doctor. 5) "Fighting for a Smile," WCCO-TV, Minneapolis. The VA's bureaucracy keeps dentures from veterans. 6) "Blood Priority," KSTP-TV, Minneapolis. Army choppers crash after cost cutting compromises safety. 7) "Missing Evidence," WMAQ-TV, Chicago. Chicago Police sell evidence right out of the vault. 8) "Failure to Protect," WBAL-TV, Baltimore. Maryland Police fail to enter protection orders to safeguard domestic violence victims. 9) "Prisoners in Their Own Homes," WFLA-TV, Tampa. Criminals strike again -- while on home detention. 10) "The $600 House," WOOD-TV, Grand Rapids, MI. HUD sells houses at pennies on the dollar to insiders. 11) "Preying on Your Pity," KPRC-TV, Houston. Telemarketers pretend to be handicapped to solicit cash. 12)"Crusade for Cash," KGTV-TV, San Diego. Lawyers use the ADA to file nuisance suits for big bucks. 13)"First USA," WFAA-TV, Dallas. Credit Card company jacks up interest rates, slaps phony late fees. 14)"Legal Loanshark," WAMI-TV, Miami. Lax laws permit car title loan companies to charge exorbitant rates.
Tags: tape; Investigative reporting; computer-assisted reporting; IRE; FOI; CAR
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Business Incentives or Corporate Welfare?
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigated Wisconsin's incentives programs in this three-part series. "Wisconsin jumped on the incentives bandwagon in the mid-1980s in a big way, with programs and expenditures proliferating to meet or anticipate almost any demand expanding businesses might make. While state officials offered soothing assurances about accountability for the programs no one... had attempted to analyze the effectiveness of the programs..." The newspaper found: spending reached $1 billion during the past 12 years, "many of the state's largest... firms were the biggest recipients of state largess" and "job creation promises were overblown and poorly monitored."
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IRE Feed 2 "Award Finalist"
A compilation of 11 stories. 1.) "Airport Security" WCPO, Cincinnati, No criminal background checks for airport workers and other violations of security rules. 2.) "Too Young to Die" KCBS, Los Angeles, The National Cancer Institute stopped recommending that women get mammograms, causing uninsured women to die early deaths. 3.) "Ford Height Four" WMAQ, Chicago, Were four black men wrongly convicted of robbery, rape, and murder, because police withheld information and a key witness lied? A killer confesses. 4.) "Sexual Predators" WLTV, Jacksonville, A law drops some sexual predators from the public list. 5.) "Shooters" WAGA, Atlanta, Convenience stores selling shooters, a brown bag full of everything you need to smoke crack, but the crack. 6.) "Cleaner Gasoline" KGO, San Francisco, The Air Resources Board threw out data that shows a news gas could make your car catch fire. 7.) "The Business of Charity" WRAL, Raleigh, Sales of donated clothes by non-profit organizations equals big money. 8.) "Stolen Dreams" News 12 Long Island, Salesmen stealing pension and retirement dreams. 9.) "Chemical Reaction" WXYZ, Detroit, Did General Motors protect it's workers from deadly and unhealthy chemicals? 10.) "Conspiracy of Silence" CBC, Alberta, Workers denied their workers compensation. 11.) "Nursing Homes: Care and Crisis" WDIV, Detroit, Bed sores, neglect and more.
Tags: TAPE; WCPO; KCBS; WMAQ; WLTV; WAGA; KGO; WRAL; News 12 Long Island; WXYZ; CBC; WDIV.
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No title (id: 10411)
Worth Magazine discusses how the Securities Exchange Commission targets not only big players but also small investors in its insider trading investigations; often even investors with little market savy who think that they're just receiving a friendly tip end up being targeted, July - August 1994.
Tags: CA NY Fishman 12 pages
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No title (id: 10018)
Associated Press reveals how Virginia's public university system was getting further away from its mission to teach students as fewer professors teach and more pursue research projects; also explores how millions of dollars raised for schools by fundraisers is spent not to help students' education but to help projects backed by big donors, Sept. 12 - 15, 1993.
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Warehouses of wealth: The tax-free economy
"Nonprofit businesses are American's fastest growing industry. Yet the government doesn't keep track. There are 1.2 million organizations tax-exempt as a nonprofit, including many surprisingly profitable ones. Like the NFL. ...[ The reporters] determined the magnitude and cost of these tax-exempt businesses, which made $500 billion in 1990 -- nearly six times the incomes of farms of five times that of utilities...Taxpayers make up for what these businesses don't pay -- more than $36 billion a year, by the reporters' calculations. What do taxpayers get in return? Damned little charity." Seven-part series includes: big profits, big salaries, growing commercialism of nonprofit hospitals, universities, museums and other institutions.
Tags: taxes; hospitals; endowments; Blue Cross; Blue Shield; donors; disclosure; nonprofit insurance and pensions; real estate; property; economics; Form 990s; IRS; executive salaries
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No title (id: 9192)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on the big-business aspects of the Olympics and the efforts of Atlanta to land the games; looks at the financial documents of the International Olympic Committee and finds that it has cash reserves totalling over $100 million and the U.S. Olympic Committee solicits donations claiming over 80 percent of its budget goes to its athletes, when in fact barely 10 percent does, July 12, 1992.
Tags: None